WD MyBook Essential WD20EARS Not Recognized

[korkete]

Hi Everyone,

My WD Mybook was disconnecting/getting shutdown randomly few months ago and it stopped working completely few weeks ago.
When it's connected, I have to wait for a while and then I see it under the Windows Disk Management as unallocated disk but it doesn't show up on MY PC drives.
When I try to initialize it, I get an I/O disk error. I tried using the WD QUick Formatter but it failed as well.
See below picture (it is in Turkish but you'll get the idea )



I disassembled the box and tried the external USB connector with few different HDDs and they all worked fine.
So I'm sure my problem is the disk inside the box (WD20EARS).

It has a PCB numbered 2060-771698-002 REV A and when I removed this PCB I saw that the connector pads on the PCB was rusty just like in this picture =>

I tried to clean it with alcohol but it didn't work.

I then ordered a new PCB with the same number(but it wasn't "REV A" it was "REV P1", seller said it should be ok?)
I then replaced U12 chip on the PCB.
I got the exact same error.
The seller suggested I also replaced the big chip(he said bios chip) on the PCB and try again. (see the picture in red circle below.)
(btw I work for a telecom company and we have all the gear for such work, my colleague easily changed these on the PCB)

I get the exact same problem It still shows under disk management but the drive won't start.

I hear no repeating clicking noises, I hear that the disks spin, It almost sounds like a regular disk booting up.

There was no physical damage on the disk, no drops etc.

Any idea how I should move on from here?

Thanks..

[ShaneWard]

WD drives are normally encrypted through the bridge board so that might be your problem. if you changed the pcb board on the drive and it seems to load okay on the computer, try placing the drive back into the external case and see if it will work otherwise the bridge board could be faulty or something went wrong with the SA of the disk.

Shane

[jono-ats]

The OP said that other HDs work OK with the USB bridge.

Is the data important?

What message do you get when you reassemble the hard drive with the USB bridge; connect it to your computer, and run WD Smartware? Does it ask for a password?

It sounds to me there is a password problem or a SA issue.

The data on your drive is encrypted, so the PC won't recognize it without the bridge PCB and a correct user password (if one was set up). However, sometimes SA corruption shows up as asking for a user password when you never set one up! WD Smartware will tell you if the drive is locked and thinks it needs a manual password.

[HaQue]

Changing the big chip was a good effort, congrats on doing it successfully!

[Samo]

Jono maybe some of heads are not so good. Then drive boot but give ID and so on, but does not have access to LBA area but is showing full capacity though. This could explain and also the picture where he see the size in disk management but disk is not init. Well other way is to have bridge failed, but user reported that it was working with other drives.
korkete Can you try hdd on some tool like MHDD or some windows analogue (HDD tune) or similar that can do LBA test If it fail there on LBA access more likely some of the heads are weak.

[galaxy]

u can use hdd regentor and scaning yur hard disk

[shahij]

As the HDD is detecting with Full capacity then it's not PCB issue. Data area has no access. Scan with MHDD, then report you see.

[jono-ats]

Jono maybe some of heads are not so good. Then drive boot but give ID and so on, but does not have access to LBA area but is showing full capacity though. This could explain and also the picture where he see the size in disk management but disk is not init.

Very true. He could also have a bad Relo list module, and several other possibilities. My thought was to use what the OP already had to further the diagnosis. If it's not the password issue, than we've eliminated one possibility.

Jono

[michael chiklis]

Changing the big chip was a good effort, congrats on doing it successfully!

It's not too difficult to desolder the big chip if you know how to use a hot air soldering station and have a lot of practice.
The really difficult part it's to reassemble it again on the pcb due to very thin pins

[labtech]

u can use hdd regentor and scaning yur hard disk

Don't do it.

[korkete]

I tried to connect via USB bridge adapter. Exact same result, as you mentioned USB bridge works with other HDDs anyway.
I am also sure there is no password setup on it. I was the only one using the drive and SmartWare doesn't ask for a password.
SmartWare application shows the drive though.


Data is not very important, I just lost few of my latest trip photos.
All other important stuff was also backed up else where.

The OP said that other HDs work OK with the USB bridge.

Is the data important?

What message do you get when you reassemble the hard drive with the USB bridge; connect it to your computer, and run WD Smartware? Does it ask for a password?

It sounds to me there is a password problem or a SA issue.

The data on your drive is encrypted, so the PC won't recognize it without the bridge PCB and a correct user password (if one was set up). However, sometimes SA corruption shows up as asking for a user password when you never set one up! WD Smartware will tell you if the drive is locked and thinks it needs a manual password.

[korkete]

Yes that was tricky for my colleague I inspected it with a microscope and all legs look perfectly fine.

Changing the big chip was a good effort, congrats on doing it successfully!

[korkete]

I checked with HD Tune and under the Health section I see warning on the "Current Pending Sector".
Do you suggest I also try the MHDD or does this give us enough info to understand what's wrong?

ID Current Worst Threshold Data Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate 198 198 51 616 ok
(03) Spin Up Time 253 253 21 1166 ok
(04) Start/Stop Count 98 98 : 2097 ok
(05) Reallocated Sector Count 200 200 140 0 ok
(07) Seek Error Rate 183 182 : 865 ok
(09) Power On Hours Count 95 95 : 3886 ok
(0A) Spin Retry Count 100 100 : 0 ok
(0B) Calibration Retry Count 100 100 : 0 ok
(0C) Power Cycle Count 98 98 : 2095 ok
(CO) Unsafe Shutdown Count 200 200 : 238 ok
(Cl) Load Cycle Count 179 179 : 65980ok
(C2) Temperature 117 100 : 33 ok
(C4) Reallocated Event Count 200 200 : 0 ok
(C5) Current Pending Sector 200 200 0 29 warning
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable 200 200 0 0 ok
(C7) Interface CRC Error Count 200 200 : 0 ok
(C8) Write Error Rate 200 200 : 1 ok

Jono maybe some of heads are not so good. Then drive boot but give ID and so on, but does not have access to LBA area but is showing full capacity though. This could explain and also the picture where he see the size in disk management but disk is not init. Well other way is to have bridge failed, but user reported that it was working with other drives.
korkete Can you try hdd on some tool like MHDD or some windows analogue (HDD tune) or similar that can do LBA test If it fail there on LBA access more likely some of the heads are weak.

[Samo]

No need to try mhdd , just run surface scan of user area for several hundred sectors.

[korkete]

Samo, please see the the error scan below.

http://i.imgur.com/ZbnoFyU.png

[Samo]

Аrkadaş , look like one or more heads are not good.
If you need data its only one way. Read good heads, make a head swap read rest , decrypt. (not a low cost job unfortunately )
If you need the drive itself, it have to be downsized. But unfortunately you will need good tool that can work with SA, and then spend some time formatting and scanning LBA area.

[korkete]

Turned out it was not a simple chip swap as I thought.
I would rather open up the disk layers and use them as decoration on my wall..
I learned a lot investigating the issue, thanks for all the help..

Glad to have help from the neighbor, thanks arkadaş

Аrkadaş , look like one or more heads are not good.
If you need data its only one way. Read good heads, make a head swap read rest , decrypt. (not a low cost job unfortunately )
If you need the drive itself, it have to be downsized. But unfortunately you will need good tool that can work with SA, and then spend some time formatting and scanning LBA area.

[Samo]

Turned out it was not a simple chip swap as I thought.
I would rather open up the disk layers and use them as decoration on my wall..
I learned a lot investigating the issue, thanks for all the help..

Glad to have help from the neighbor, thanks arkadaş

Partial recovery still possible, maybe head depop and use the drive with smaller capacity still suitable for parts even. I would not open it. .